Merevale

"MEREVALE, a parish partly in the hundred of Hemlingford, county Warwick, and partly in the hundred of Sparkenhoe, co-Leicester, 1 mile W. of Atherstone, its railway station and post town. The village, which is small, is situated on the Coventry canal, near the river Anker. There are traces of a Cistercian priory founded by Robert de Ferrers in 1148. Coal mines are worked in this parish. The surface is hilly and the soil is strong clay. The living is a donative curacy in the diocese of Worcester, value £64. The church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, is an ancient structure, and was formerly a chapel at the gate of the aforementioned priory. The interior of the church contains an old rood-loft, three stone coffins, and several monuments and brasses to the Stratford and Dugdale families. Merevale Hall, which has been recently rebuilt, is a stone building situated on lofty ground 400 feet above the sea-level. It is surrounded by a well-wooded park stocked with deer."
[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]